1 Essential Question: Describe the 6 main goals of the U.S. economy, Select the goal that is most important to you and explain why you feel that way. The U.S. Economy at Work SECTION 3

2 How nations decide how to use scarce resources: Households, businesses, and the government work together to set goals. These goals focus on addressing different needs. Sometimes two or more of these goals require the same resources (making it impossible to do both equally well) The U.S. Economy at Work SECTION 3

3 6 major goals of the U.S. Economy: #1 Economic Freedom/#2 Efficiency Freedom- the right for consumers to choose how to answer the 3 basic economic questions. Efficiency- Ensuring that resources are not wasted and that the product produced with the resources is worth more than the resources consumed. SECTION 3 The U.S. Economy at Work

4 #3 Economic Equity #4 Security Equity- Ensuring our economy works TOWARD being fair in terms of allocating resources and addressing needs of society EQUAL=Fair, EQUITY=Working toward fairness Security- the goal of preventing the members of a society from poverty, business and bank failures or other crises that would harm the overall economy. SECTION 3 The U.S. Economy at Work

5 #5 Economic Stability Stability- This goal addresses two concerns, A.) trying to establish full employment or keep as many of the citizens employed as possible AND B.) trying to limit the amount of change in the average prices of goods and service in the economy to protect those with limited or fixed incomes. SECTION 3 The U.S. Economy at Work

6 #6 Growth This goal focuses on increasing the amount of goods and services produced by each worker in an economy to address the needs of an expanding population. This means producing MORE than enough stuff to serve the needs of the current population. SECTION 3 The U.S. Economy at Work

7 Why economic goals sometimes conflict: differences in the goals of various socioeconomic groups Rich want freedom/growth, Poor people want security Older people want stability, young people want growth Overlooked people want equity, people in the majority want things to stay the same. SECTION 3 The U.S. Economy at Work